4 ms·

I guarantee that would cause hearing damage. I get what you're trying to accomplish, disincentivize people against honking excessively, but it's a bit like try

I guarantee that would cause hearing damage. I get what you're trying to accomplish, disincentivize people against honking excessively, but it's a bit like trying to prevent stabbings by only selling knives without handles. I think we should be looking into more effective ways for people to communicate among vehicles, honestly.

ryukafalz 5y ago
> I guarantee that would cause hearing damage. You shouldn't be using your horn often enough to do that anyway, and if a single honk is loud enough to damage your hearing in this case, it's also loud enough to damage the hearing of a pedestrian walking near you. I say do it. It'd be a strong disincentive to use your horn unnecessarily.
- zamadatix 5y ago
  It'd be nice to see horn volume tied to speedometer or outside noise level (maybe some already are?). After all it's meant to be a safety device not a device you can stick your ear next to comfortably in any scenario. If you're going 70 and want to signal to the guy left of you to not merge into you "it's too loud for a pedestrian to safely stand right next to" isn't very relevant (in both perspectives). At the same time if you're going <5 mph on a comparatively quiet backed up street there is no reason it has to be the same volume as the first case.
bobbylarrybobby 5y ago
Maybe if drivers didn't want their hearing damaged they'd push for horns that were quieter outside the car too. After all the parent's comment merely says that horns should be as loud inside the car as outside — not louder. Currently, horns are externalized and so drivers don't care how loud they are. By internalizing the cost, they'd care enough to lower it. Or go deaf. Their choice. But at least it's a choice they'd care about.
- maxerickson 5y ago
  What distance outside the car? Loudness falls off pretty fast.
- zamadatix 5y ago
  > After all the parent's comment merely says that horns should be as loud inside the car as outside — not louder But this is precisely what makes no sense as the requirement for the high volume never came from how loud it was to the person that hit the horn in the first place. The driver you're trying to signal is going to be inside a vehicle therefore it needs to be loud enough to be heard from inside a vehicle.
  - bobbylarrybobby 5y ago
    > ... is going to be inside a vehicle False
    - zamadatix 5y ago
      The ability of others to exist outside of a vehicle does not have any implication on whether the other driver is in one regardless of how convenient it would be if it did. Something like https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31309299 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31309299 can be thought of to try to solve both problems instead of limiting good solutions to be only those for a single perspective.

ryukafalz 5y ago

> I guarantee that would cause hearing damage. You shouldn't be using your horn often enough to do that anyway, and if a single honk is loud enough to damage your hearing in this case, it's also loud enough to damage the hearing of a pedestrian walking near you. I say do it. It'd be a strong disincentive to use your horn unnecessarily.

zamadatix 5y ago
It'd be nice to see horn volume tied to speedometer or outside noise level (maybe some already are?). After all it's meant to be a safety device not a device you can stick your ear next to comfortably in any scenario. If you're going 70 and want to signal to the guy left of you to not merge into you "it's too loud for a pedestrian to safely stand right next to" isn't very relevant (in both perspectives). At the same time if you're going <5 mph on a comparatively quiet backed up street there is no reason it has to be the same volume as the first case.

bobbylarrybobby 5y ago

Maybe if drivers didn't want their hearing damaged they'd push for horns that were quieter outside the car too. After all the parent's comment merely says that horns should be as loud inside the car as outside — not louder. Currently, horns are externalized and so drivers don't care how loud they are. By internalizing the cost, they'd care enough to lower it. Or go deaf. Their choice. But at least it's a choice they'd care about.

maxerickson 5y ago
What distance outside the car? Loudness falls off pretty fast.
zamadatix 5y ago
> After all the parent's comment merely says that horns should be as loud inside the car as outside — not louder But this is precisely what makes no sense as the requirement for the high volume never came from how loud it was to the person that hit the horn in the first place. The driver you're trying to signal is going to be inside a vehicle therefore it needs to be loud enough to be heard from inside a vehicle.
- bobbylarrybobby 5y ago
  > ... is going to be inside a vehicle False
  - zamadatix 5y ago
    The ability of others to exist outside of a vehicle does not have any implication on whether the other driver is in one regardless of how convenient it would be if it did. Something like https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31309299 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31309299 can be thought of to try to solve both problems instead of limiting good solutions to be only those for a single perspective.